Classic Wild Blueberry Pie – Washington State Fair Entry

This pie was honored with a 3rd place ribbon this week at the Washington State Fair.   While I have competed several years in the cake categories (and was honored there also this year) this was my first attempt at a pie ribbon.  I was thrilled with this win.   What is interesting about this original pie recipe is that I often make icebox pies with blueberry.   I prefer pre-cooked filling with pies in general because one can control the consistency.  With blueberry, I like being able to fold in whole, fresh, blueberries.   But icebox pies are not allowed at the fair and the technique is more challenging with a baked pie.   This is a happy medium of the two because the pastry is pre-baked and with a crumb-top on the pie, you can quickly brown your crumb and still have a whole blueberry flavor.

Classic Maine Wild Blueberry Pie

4 – 5 Cups of fresh or frozen wild blueberries
½ C Sugar
½ tsp cardamom, freshly ground
3 T Corn Starch
3 T Water

Prepare and pre-bake your pastry and heat oven to 350. Place 2 C blueberries into heavy saucepan with sugar and spice. Mix corn starch and water into a slurry and set aside. Heat berries on medium and mash berries down to liquefy. When boiling, dribble in corn starch slurry.   Mixture will thicken within  1 -2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining berries. Pour into cooled pastry shell and top with Crumble Topping. Bake 20 – 25 minutes until crumble top is golden brown and crispy. Drizzle with lemon glaze if desired (half cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp lemon – whisked).

Crumble Topping

1/3 C Almond Flour
1/3 C Flour
1/3 C Oats
½ C Brown Sugar
4 T softened butter

Combine dry ingredients in a Cuisinart and pulse 10 – 15 times – just enough to break oats slightly. Remove and with a fork or your fingertips – mix in softened butter.   Spread on top of ready pie.

1 Recipe Basic Pastry

1 ¼ C Flour
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
¼ cup chilled Butter (1 cube)
~ ½ C ice water

In a Cuisinart, pulse dry ingredients. Add chilled butter in several chunks and pulse until it resembles coarse meal. Dribble in ice water until dough pulls together. Wrap as a disc and allow to rest at least 20 minutes.  Roll out pastry, shape in standard pie pan and put in pie weights for baking at 375, 15 – 20 minutes.   Brush edges with egg as desired.

One thing about the fair – very strict on pie plates.   I strongly disliked baking the pastry in this throwaway pan, it changed everything for me and took several attempts.  

Filling is bubbly, ready for thickening with slurry….

Finished pie, with paperwork, ready for delivery….